What a in Pain in Arse....

[azpyroguy]

ok.. On Saturday afternoon my battery dies on me in the 10, so I put in on the charger in hopes of it fixing the problem, I let it charge for about 3-4 hours at 6 amps, and then try and go start truck, it turns over about 4-5 times, and then the typical "your SOL... clickety, click, dead battery" sound...

By this time its about 7pm, all dealers are closed, I call the roadside assistance.... that my factory warranty covers... talk about a bunch of useless twerps....

There choices were...

1. We can send a tow truck out to you, and tow it to dealer.
2. Or we can provide you a jump start.

My reply to them was... dealer is closed until Monday (and then they might not even be open on Christmas eve...), so most likely they are closed till Dec 26 (today), and if you want to jump start me, do you want you tail me around and jump start the truck again when I stop.... the guy was like....ummmm...we can tow you to the dealer.... obviously he did not understand something in my words about "Dealer is closed..."

So I asked him... can I get approval to go and buy a battery.... he says.. can't do that... but we can tow you to the dealer.. by this time I am getting irritated with "moron" on the phone... and said I will just go buy a battery and deal with customer services on Wednesday the 26th...

So today, I get the joy of going through the wonderful Dodge "Phone Tree", telling them about what happens... the girl on the phone was nice but kinda clueless...

So after telling her the situation, I finally get an address to send in my information.. get this..

1. Receipt is not good enough, even though it shows the last 4 of my credit card, and approval number.

2. Gotta have a copy of my credit card statement showing proof of payment also.... what a crock that is... sheesh...

3. And then there is no gaurentee about reimbursement, and it will take at least 6 weeks after they do thier "internal review" of the request...

My god... were talking about $86.79, here.....

 

[GriMacE 06QuadSRT10]

Damn that is so much BS -- so much for roadside assistance --

but it begs the question -- why is a 2006 10's battery biting the dust anyway -- even with your goodies and the Phoenix heat it should last more than a year - sheesh - maybe I should replace mine just for shits and grins -- damn!

 

[Hamrhead]

FWIW, maybe your truck spent quite a while on the showroom floor before it was purchased?:dontknow:

My Viper sat almost a year before I bought it and the Dealer said they had to charge it multiple times, so they installed a new one the day I bought it.

 

[azpyroguy]

Damn that is so much BS -- so much for roadside assistance --

but it begs the question -- why is a 2006 10's battery biting the dust anyway -- even with your goodies and the Phoenix heat it should last more than a year - sheesh - maybe I should replace mine just for shits and grins -- damn!

That was my thoughts also... I noticed that it was bubbling acid from the the covers, and the sides were bulging somewhat... so maybe I had a bad battery to start with... and with the fact that I dont drive it much now maybe it killed it for good...

 

[wheredwhogo?]

i know if it were me and i wanted to start my truck bad enough, i would simply go buy another battery.......i know, i know, its principle, but sometimes we have to choose our battles....

 

[azpyroguy]

FWIW, maybe your truck spent quite a while on the showroom floor before it was purchased?:dontknow:

My Viper sat almost a year before I bought it and the Dealer said they had to charge it multiple times, so they installed a new one the day I bought it.

My truck was ordered, and I picked it up the day it was delivered from the rail yard.

 

[azpyroguy]

i know if it were me and i wanted to start my truck bad enough, i would simply go buy another battery.......i know, i know, its principle, but sometimes we have to choose our battles....

Thats what I did.... but I wanted to at least "try" use the warranty services...

 

[TNVIPER]

I had a 2001 Dakota do the same thing 9 months after buying it new. Of course it happened at night after the dealer had closed. They said the same...either tow or jump....turned out the battery had a short in it...

 

[Kevan]

...it was bubbling acid from the the covers, and the sides were bulging somewhat...

Ummm....dude.....that's BAD.
Tres mal.

Take some pictures then get it the hell out of your truck ASAFP.
If it blows, you'll be in a world of hurt.

Put the battery in some type of container or leaf/lawn bag and get it to some place that takes care of battery disposal (AutoZone, CarQuest, NAPA, etc.)

$87 vs. replacing the entire front end & engine from acid melt/etch.
Your call.

Before installing the new battery, TRIPLE-check all your electrical connections.
Esp. the HID and audio gear.

- Take the receipt for the new battery and the pics to the dealer.
- Ask "WTF!?!?!?"
- If they cut you a check, cool.
- If they don't, hammer them online over a stupid $87 battery.

 

[azpyroguy]

It all stayed in the battery tray, so I dobbed it up with some old towels, put some baking soda and water in the area to neutralize the acid, and then washed it down really well.

Autozone took and disposed of the battery for me.

No further damage was noticed, I got to it quick enough.

Ummm....dude.....that's BAD.
Tres mal.

Take some pictures then get it the hell out of your truck ASAFP.
If it blows, you'll be in a world of hurt.

Put the battery in some type of container or leaf/lawn bag and get it to some place that takes care of battery disposal (AutoZone, CarQuest, NAPA, etc.)

$87 vs. replacing the entire front end & engine from acid melt/etch.
Your call.

Before installing the new battery, TRIPLE-check all your electrical connections.
Esp. the HID and audio gear.

- Take the receipt for the new battery and the pics to the dealer.
- Ask "WTF!?!?!?"
- If they cut you a check, cool.
- If they don't, hammer them online over a stupid $87 battery.

 

[Kevan]

It all stayed in the battery tray, so I dobbed it up with some old towels, put some baking soda and water in the area to neutralize the acid, and then washed it down really well.

Autozone took and disposed of the battery for me.

No further damage was noticed, I got to it quick enough.

WHEW!

I had a battery on charge blow up 10' behind me. Thankfully I had a couple of shirts on; the flying acid only melted through 1 shirt before I got it off. I still have the shirt somewhere.

Hopefully you got some pics, or Autozone will let you take some pics at their place.
And maybe you took some of the leftovers in the battery tray?

I noticed that you have a TON of kickass audio gear in the QC. Check all that wiring again, just to make sure there's no short somewhere. Same goes for the HID setup.

 

[azpyroguy]

WHEW!

I had a battery on charge blow up 10' behind me. Thankfully I had a couple of shirts on; the flying acid only melted through 1 shirt before I got it off. I still have the shirt somewhere.

Hopefully you got some pics, or Autozone will let you take some pics at their place.
And maybe you took some of the leftovers in the battery tray?

I noticed that you have a TON of kickass audio gear in the QC. Check all that wiring again, just to make sure there's no short somewhere. Same goes for the HID setup.

I checked, there are no shorts, and all the wiring is fine, the battery had been acting kinda funny for a few months now... it started out where it would hold a charge for 4-5 weeks without use, then slowly went to not even holding a charge for couple of hours (or for that matter taking a charge at all)

Autozone tested the battery, and it only had 10.0 volts, and negative amps, said that it was a dead cell.

 

[Kevan]

Yeah. Sounds like a bad/dead battery.

Good call on getting it out of there before it became a BIG problem.

 

[Hamrhead]

You mentioned you don't drive it very often. My .02, get one of these Quick Disconnect terminals to prevent your battery from discharging when not in use.

I had one on my truck, and put one on my Viper as well.

Simple but effective.

 

[099 FEVER]

Already replaced mine with a Yellow Top. Mine went dead and wouldn't take a charge. This is normal for Arizona where I've had batteries only last about two years because of the heat.

 

[azpyroguy]

Already replaced mine with a Yellow Top. Mine went dead and wouldn't take a charge. This is normal for Arizona where I've had batteries only last about two years because of the heat.

Yeah.. thats about my average also.... longest I have ever had one last here is 3 years.... and that was a Optima Red Top, I was litterally within 10 days of my warranty to be expiring and they replaced it for free... =)

 

[TheSickness]

At times like this I just say what the hell and you know what makes all the dispair and blues go away.......A nice Brontosaurs sized F@ckin steak and all you can eat potato chips

 

[davo19]

maybe ya shoulda tried taking it back to the dealer, even though you had purchased a new one, show them the reciept and new battery and maybe they would see what happened and step up...

 

[JRSVIPR]

I just replaced the OEM battery today.I was not having any trouble with it,But it is 4-yrs. old.I had Sears install the Platinum series,Now my CD player wont work.And i thought i was saving myself some headaches by replacing it before i got stranded.:dontknow:

 

[ZCx]

sounds like ya'll's batteries are droppin like flies. can't wait till mine dies so i can install Justin's battery relocation kit